Renata Shakirova seems to be everywhere at once. As one of the most “in-demand” ballerinas of the Mariinsky, she is constantly performing around the world, from Europe to Asia, even during her time off. This lovely young lady brings the same sparkling presence to an in-person conversation as she does to each performance. Read on to learn about her journey from Tashkent to Petersburg, and what life is like for a young Mariinsky Prima. You can find the Russian version of this interview here.
– – – – – – – – – –
You were born in Tashkent. Is your family from the world of ballet?
My mother’s roots are from Bashkiri. When I was about 4 years old, we returned to the republic of Bashkortostan to the city of Sterlitamak. In childhood, I was very active. My mom was a teacher. When her students graduated, she took me with her and I danced all evening. Everyone was surprised, “Such a small child and she doesn’t get tired!” At that moment, my mom thought about it and decided to put me in a dancing ensemble. No one from my family was connected with the theatre or with art, but when my mom lived in Tashkent, she really loved the theatre, she dreamt of dancing herself but there was no possibility to do so, and she attended musical school. When she finished, unfortunately she didn’t pursue music further, she went into another area.
It seems to me that somewhere inside, her desire to dance probably became incarnate in me. I have an older brother but he’s my polar opposite, very calm. We’re two completely different people. From the age of 4, I attended the “Solnishko” (Sunshine) ensemble and that studio is still very popular. I’m still in touch with the director. It was while I was in that ensemble that we were advised to attend the Vaganova Academy here in Saint Petersburg. My mother then faced a choice: where to send her child. All of the teachers said “Of course, go to Petersburg.” But Ufa was nearby, you can reach it in two hours by car. Saint Petersburg for us was 2 days by train. Thanks to my mother, she decided and sent me to the Vaganova Academy in St. Petersburg. And from that moment on, I began my path to becoming a ballerina.
Did you prepare for the audition?
I didn’t prepare in any special way, they asked us to prepare a dance to perform, but when we arrived they said not a dance but a polka. I put all of my soul into that polka, I wanted it so much! It seems to me probably the pedagogues saw that in me, the “dancing-ness”. They looked at musicality, rhythm and coordination.
There was a filtering process at the Academy done in three stages: first, your traits, second a medical examination, and third, a final filtering in which they looked at your traits once more and assigned everyone to classes. We enter at age 11, which is the 5th grade in typical academic school. But I was not alone, there were several children who also arrived from other cities. We gathered together and we went on this path together. We supported and helped each other, took classes together. It was an intriguing experience. The local Petersburg children also asked us with great interest, “how do you like living in the dormitories, it’s probably so fun!” Although there were various stages. Of course when we were all together and someone felt sad, we calmed them down but soon everyone was crying together. But still – you aren’t alone, and there were many of us. It was easier in that way.
Was the atmosphere strict?
It was interesting. When I began, I had never seen ballet live. I had only seen it on TV. I remember, my mom bought a ticket and we went to the Mariinsky to watch “Romeo and Juliet”, Diana Vishneva and Ilya Kuznetsov were dancing. And of course it was a pure delight. The atmosphere at the Academy was so all-encompassing, you’re small and you could watch the older students in class, you had a stimulus, you saw the girls who did certain movements better than you. And from the first years we started to participate in stage practice. The speed of life was such that we had no time to be bored. There were always goals and you always aspired to reach them. The time there flew by quickly.
Who was your pedagogue at the Academy?
My first pedagogue (coach) was Galina Alexandrovna Enikeeva. We had friendly classes, we were involved in performances. She empowered us so much, I always have the best memories of her. She taught us for 4 years.
Usually there were 3 pedagogues total during your studies at the Academy, approximately 1 pedagogue for every 3 years. But I had only two pedagogues. Enikeeva and then from grade (year) 5, Tatiana Alexandrova Udalenkova led us until graduation. She gave us a great deal. It’s understood that the initial classes are the basis upon which you lay everything and then the elements become more complex later. Udalenkova gave us this fabulous technical foundation, as we call it, because ballet has a specific technical aspect which we must carry out. And Tatiana Alexandrova always taught us so that we could maximally perform all steps using the right leg as well as the left. You can’t just learn the steps on one side and then ignore the other. She developed our technical base and we were resilient and strong, with a good base. Further, then, when you graduate, you add in acting components and empowerment on stage. The first years in the theatre are when you unite technique with dramatic acting skills so that performances do not look like Academy exams carrying out the steps, but like dancing.
But you danced on stage at the Mariinsky Theatre prior to graduation.
Yes I was lucky. When I was in the second course (second to last year of studies) at the Academy, we had vacation that lasted 2 months. This is a lot because you lose your physical shape. As they say, if you miss one day, you need 3 days to get back in shape. During our second course, along with my classmates, I asked for permission to attend classes at the theatre, and Udalenkova came to an agreement with Yuri Fateev (the former head of the ballet troupe).
Fateev noticed me and suggested I dance Amour from “Don Quixote” and also the Odalisques Trio (“Le Corsaire”). For me this was a challenge and huge responsibility. Because when you’re asked to perform as a student, you have to demonstrate on stage that you’re not a student, you have to dance like a true professional. That’s probably the most difficult. Further, Yuri Fateev took the risk and trusted students, not even from the graduating class but younger than that – to dance George Balanchine’s “Rubies”. This is one of the most difficult roles. I prepared it for one month with Kimin Kim and debuted in it. I remember before the performance itself, Fateev came into the studio and said “Did I do the right thing? Maybe she can’t handle it, because she’s still a student,” but everything went wonderfully, and I honestly couldn’t believe it myself. I remember backstage, Diana Vishneva came up to me and asked “Are you rehearsing something?” And I said “Yes, Rubies” and she said, “Rubies?! Good luck!” This was during my last year at the Academy. I performed Rubies and also Princess Florine. During the summer they took me on tour to London, where I performed Polyhymina in “Apollo” and Concerto DSCH. Then I was upset when nobody invited me anywhere and I thought, “Well that’s it, they probably didn’t like me, I probably have gotten worse.” But Yuri Fateev said “No, I wanted to take you to America, but Nikolai Tsiskaridze didn’t permit it.” That’s because it was our final year and there was great responsibility before the graduation exams and we had to prepare for them.
You had a great deal of stage experience prior to receiving a contract. Did this make your first year in the theatre easier?
You can’t compare a year’s work in the theatre and these small stage experiences because the lifestyle in the theatre dramatically differs from the Academy. First, the responsibility is different and completely on you. If at the Academy, the pedagogues stand behind you, support you, and demand something of you, then here you have to demand it of yourself. And never stop. What they say is true, that work on yourself never stops. You have to constantly improve. And when they say that you have reached a peak, you’ve become a prima ballerina, in fact at that point even more work is added to your plate. In our career, when it seems like everything is ideal and wonderful, then it’s best to leave the stage, because perfecting yourself is the path that never ends.
Were there key moments that affected your path in the theatre?
My preparation and internal approach and view of situations are always key for me. That means that you have to always work hard even when something doesn’t work out. Even if for example, you really want something but they don’t give it to you, you still need to constantly demonstrate not just to the administration but to yourself that you can do it. For me a key moment is not giving up. It sometimes happens that you get upset thinking “nobody noticed me”. But with time you realize that it’s probably good, and that things didn’t work out previously but later the time will come and it will happen. Fate guides you. And I really try to feel this moment. If something doesn’t work out, or happens in a way I did not want, I try to look at it from another point of view: maybe I’m not ready now and maybe my time will come, maybe I still have to exert energy in this direction, work on something, so that it happens.
For me, the first year was also very significant because I debuted as both Kitri and Juliet, I performed a large number of roles. But I also experienced injuries, so it was a see-saw. I would say it’s very important to learn to listen to your body. It is our most important instrument. Sometimes I’ve worked hard but not felt my body, and it led to injuries. You have to know how to rest, how to relax, how to not give up and also how to exert yourself even more. I’m simply lucky that people appear in my life who trust me and believe in me. I probably doubt myself more but people have appeared in my life who give me that faith.
When an injury occurs, do you ever hide it?
That has happened of course and all too often I’ve hidden and tolerated injuries. For example, my first injury was in fact during my debut in “Don Quixote”, but I could not give in and I danced it until the end, and then went on sick leave. This is one of those cases when you need to listen to your body.
Far too often, when you’ve just joined the theatre, you’re afraid of refusing something and you want to dance a lot, the maximum, and you think what if suddenly they won’t give you roles. And that’s a big mistake. There are injuries on which you can continue dancing and others on which in no case whatsoever should you continue. But it’s impossible to know unless a professional doctor tells you if you can go on or it’s not worth it. There were times, unfortunately, that due to my own stupidity, I danced with an injury because I wanted to. But later you understand that if you do this, then you’re going to take even longer to recover. So you have to learn to accept it and not be afraid.
Does emploi exist for you?
There are lots of conversations about that these days. I can say that emploi is something that everyone relates to in their own way. Sometimes for someone employ exists and they see themselves only in a certain emploi. That’s neither good nor bad. We’re all different. But for me, to some degree I probably try to remove those limitations because when I studied with Udalenkova, my inner emploi was always the roles like Kitri – fire, energy, roles where you have to jump and turn, very energetic. And I remember during the annual concert, she said to me “Let’s prepare the ballet from ‘The Stream’ and I thought, ‘The Stream’? That’s not my kind of thing at all, it’s so boring and slow.” But when we began to work I enjoyed it and I discovered a new side of myself. At that point my internal view of myself broke and now when people say “it’s not [your] emploi”, it’s almost a challenge to demonstrate that it’s mine. There are various types of emploi, for example someone dances only Odette, like in the past, but at that time there weren’t as many performances as we have now, it was a different era. Now we are moving forward, and the life of a ballet dancer is short. When you understand that you have little time, then you want to try everything and not claim that you’re the best in a role or that you’re the only one for this part. No. You discover for yourself a new image and character. And sometimes when you try something drastically different, further you can use parts of that and find some interesting accents that you can transfer and use in the roles that you do particularly well.
Who are your pedagogues now?
When I joined the theatre, I worked with Margarit Kulik, but then in a joint decision I shifted to Tatiana Gennadievna Terekhova, now I work with her. But I still meet Margarita and we work together on other roles, we still have a very warm relationship. I’m very grateful to her because during my first years in the theatre she gave me a great foundation, we prepared a great many roles together. I currently rehearse “Humpbacked Horse”, “Cinderella” and “Pharaoh’s Daughter” with her, and everything else with Terekhova.
What role do they play in your life, is it simply a working relationship?
Each pedagogue becomes closer to you in any case. For me a pedagogue is like a ballet mother, a psychologist, and a friend, a person with extensive life experience who can help you and support you. We see each other every day, we spend a large portion of our lives together, so in any case a pedagogue becomes something more to you.
Do you have a favorite role?
Actually every part is a favorite in its own way, I can’t really separate something out because all of them are different and sometimes when you’re not particularly drawn to a certain part but your mood may coincide with the role, and you can fill it onstage, and the role becomes close to you. So each one is unique, I love them all because I infuse a part of myself in each, so I can’t say what is better or worse. They’re all unique.
Is there a role you covet?
Mekhmene Banu in “Legend of Love” and I really like dramatic roles, I’d like to dance in “Anna Karenina”.
What’s the hardest part of your job?
To accept, not give in, and work on yourself.
From where do you draw your strength and enthusiasm?
I can answer that easily because when I go out on stage, I am happy, so I do everything I can to give people happiness. After the performance when you hear the feedback from viewers and their emotions, sometimes the day after the performance or even a week later…when people come to the theatre and forget their problems, they become imbued with that energy – I feel wonderful due to that.
What’s the best part of your job?
At the start of a performance, you might be nervous, you don’t know how it will go. I would probably say prior to the last entrance on stage, when you know that the majority of the performance has passed and it has gone better than expected, better than you rehearsed, and you know it’s your last entrance, and this gives me great enthusiasm. Or, for example, your final variation remains, the last adagio. We as ballet dancers feel how the viewers react to us. When you dance and have the sensation that nobody in the audience is breathing, there’s just silence, from that the performance is a lot brighter and more emotional. And when you understand that just a little is left, and everyone has enjoyed it, both the dancers and audience – that’s the best part. Because a performance is not a performance of just soloists, not at all. It’s a performance of everyone, because the people standing behind you on stage, the musicians and orchestra, the corps de ballet, every nuance, all of it affects the outcome of a performance.
Do you believe in Fate?
I believe that everything is in our hands. It seems Fate gives us lots of chances, and the main thing is to dream, believe and not give up. I like the phrase “if we experience difficulties, they’re all possible to overcome, and whether we give up or continue through to the end depends only on us”.
The dream to become a prima ballerina is a dream that almost every little girl has in childhood. But the appointment itself doesn’t depend on me. There are many wonderful, deserving dancers and it is the luck of the draw. I want my dancing to be better and to perfect it each time. My goal was not the status (of prima) itself, but to do it better than myself and to dance a better performance each time. But that’s not in order to win a prize. In fact I’m somewhat neutral about receiving awards. For me the important thing is to dance the part better than I can. This path and process of perfecting is important to me.
After receiving the status of Prima Ballerina, did anything change?
Yes something changed: responsibility which now is greater. Responsibility for the performance is greater, you understand that now you represent the Mariinsky Theatre, and everything is more worrisome due to that.
You recently toured to Korea. Do the viewers there differ from those in the US or in Russia?
The viewers differ a great deal. Even if you take Russia and Korea, or Russia and the United Kingdom, or Europe. Each city or country has its own acceptance of dance. Each location also treats their own dancers in their own way. We all know, for example, how, in Japan, they always greet us with thunderous ovations despite the fact that the people there are typically more restrained, it’s a cultural issue. You always feel the difference. It seems to me, Petersburg viewers are more responsible, perhaps because from the youngest ages we (they) have witnessed dancers in front of us, and that’s our internal relationship to this stage. And likely the viewer is discerning and knows a great deal. They don’t say that Petersburg is the cultural capital of Russia for no reason. So the viewers here have seen a lot and due to that it’s more concerning to hear various reviews and feedback on performances here. When we brought “Don Quixote” to Moscow, it was a great challenge because it’s their production, and they relate to it quite reverently, but the way they received us was a huge indication, it was very nice. When the goal of “showing everyone” disappears and you just try to do it for yourself and not for someone else, then the performance level becomes completely different. Well and when you just want to enjoy the moment.
You were filmed in the “Bolshoi Ballet” TV competition in 2016, after graduation. Did that affect you inside the theatre?
Actually, although the programme was released on TV in 2016, we filmed it in 2015, immediately after I had graduated. I had about one month of experience in the theatre, if not less than that. It was a direct challenge, very difficult, it would have been much easier if I had worked at least one year in the theatre already. But here, you’re not used to the stage. When we graduated, we had not had a lot of stage time. We prepared for specific productions for about a month or two. That is, it was all different. When you come to the theatre, they may tell you, “tomorrow you’re dancing this role, learn it in a day.” Or as a force majeure, “you’re dancing tonight.” That experience gives you a great deal.
The “Bolshoi Ballet” filming had its own difficulties. If we were used to working for the audience, and that’s important because we receive feedback that way, then on TV with cameras you can’t understand how you did, there’s no feedback, there’s no viewer. It all took place in silence and you don’t know if it was good or not. They showed the programme on TV once a week but we filmed every day. In a very short time period we filmed the entire series and that was difficult because normally you don’t have that many performances, and here suddenly you have to dance various roles all in a row. I had lots of premieres, lots of numbers I danced for the very first time. I would like to try to do this again because my experience is completely different now, and it would be simpler and easier.
Did that programme affect how they accepted you into the theatre?
The stage is very complicated and many people cannot handle the adrenaline and responsibility. When you rehearse in the studio, nobody watches you. But when you go out on stage, a protective reaction can begin and many people shut down. That was the case here too, but I think that the ballet director at the time saw my level and prepared me in that way.
We recently visited Sochi and I did a bunjee jump of 69 meters. I love that adrenaline. I feel that I’m ready and the most important thing is that, in this case the filming process, gives me great experience.
What shoes do you wear?
When I came to the theatre, at first I wore Gaynor Minden. They last longer and have a softness inside the shank. They were comfortable. Just a few years ago I tried Bloch and for a time I was wearing both Gaynor and Grishko. But now I have fully shifted to Grishko and I can’t dance anything in Gaynor. I can’t say what changed, but the cast-like shank is stiff in Grishko and I like that, they’re more resistance, more virtuosity in pirouettes. I have a very small and narrow foot, so I always have the narrowest pointe shoes. The toes are small and sometimes for certain productions I sew around their perimeter to just add slightly to the area. Luckily this doesn’t alter their physical appearance. I think it’s more a psychological issue that contributes to my certainty, because I don’t sew much.
Do you follow a certain diet?
When I came to the theatre, at the start of this difficult period, it was stress and overload. Girls always have a challenging issue, reconstruction of the body, and you have to really watch what you eat, here it is a case of the correct nutrition. There were lots of various approaches, I tried interval eating, and counting calories. Now, much later, I understand that the more I worried and thought about my weight, the more weight I gained. But at one point I understood that when this ends, you still are going to return to your usual weight. So you wonder, “Will I have to now control what I eat for the rest of my life?” But when I accepted “well this is my weight, this is the way I am”, and I let it all go, that’s when the rebalancing occurred and everything shifted to being normal. When you let go of the situation, it all settles into place and due to the workload, you get in shape very quickly.
Extra weight happens most likely when you overeat, start to eat sweets too much because you’re not being fed the proper emotions. Recently I have lost even more weight. When we went bunjee jumping, I laughed because I wanted to still jump, but I didn’t weigh enough! There is a minimum weight required below which they won’t let you jump.
Also, after all, you also think about partners, because weight is a load for them. Sometimes there are tall girls and everyone thinks “oh I can’t work with her.” But lifts are mainly about coordination, giving help to your partner at the right moment. There are big girls who can be easily lifted and their partners don’t feel their weight. And sometimes there are small girls who are dead weight on their partners who have to dead lift that weight. It’s all individual.
For me, I can say that when my weight is lower, it’s easier to move, not because weight disturbs you but because it affects your movements and muscles. It’s important not to just lose weight but to have a functional body. We work on classical ballet for 11 years. And to some degree, our muscles get used to a specific set of movements. And the property of muscles is that, if at the start when they first do a motion, they spend a lot of energy on it, then later with each repetition they spend less and less energy. So I try to do Pilates and Yoga, where you teach your muscles using different movements, and from that they become in more “working order” and that’s more important than changing your weight.
I always do Yoga and Pilates on vacation, then it’s easier to return to shape, your muscles work differently and you don’t get out of shape, you have more benefits. If you compare two girls with identical weight and one has muscles and one does not, then it is more important and necessary to have the muscles.
Do you have a dream for the future?
I would like to dance more roles and, like a treasure in a treasure chest, so that the treasure chest is not small but large. You know, dreams appear sometimes unexpectedly and I always try to move forward. I just recently completed my Master’s Degree at the Vaganova Academy as a pedagogue, I enjoy seeing the eyes of children when they want to dance and they enjoy it, and of course sharing my experience with them, that is a an important step in the future. A dream may be a school, or teaching at the Academy, I don’t know in what way, but giving my experience to others.
There was also my incredible experience with Ilza Liepa in her festival-competition for children. There are many children from various ensembles in various cities. We know that many of them don’t have the possibility to buy a ticket, come to Saint Petersburg and attend the Mariinsky Theatre. Ilze invited us and we travelled to various cities. At the end there was a gift for the participants –a concert given by real dancers. We danced various numbers. It was interesting to watch how they look at us. When children see these short excerpts from ballets, they retain the desire and maybe they will have the chance in the future to go see ballet, and they’ll use that opportunity.
Ballet is number one in Russia, we preserve this art form, and ballet unites various forms of art: music, painting, dance. It’s important that our generation doesn’t forget and continues this tradition. There is the wish that more children would study ballet, or would further continue professionally, or just attend the theatre, so that culture would continue to develop.
What do you do while on vacation?
For me the ideal vacation is when we combine the pleasant with the beneficial, when I can be on the beach but also perform! I don’t like stopping, it’s harder then to get back in shape. It’s easier to stay in shape. I love to travel. For many vacation is complete relaxation, not doing anything. For me that’s the worst vacation. I have to do something. If I go somewhere, then for sure I will go on excursions, walk around a lot, learn something new. Vacation for me is receiving new impressions and emotions. I recall when we were in Italy, it was a complete joy when we walked around a lot, the city of Rome itself is ravishing.
Advice for those who want to repeat your path in ballet?
You don’t need to repeat it, you should find your own path. You don’t need to copy anyone, just study from other people, but most importantly: desire, move forward, and don’t give up. And of course, work hard, because many have talent, but developing that talent in the right direction, cutting the gemstone, is all in your hands.
Sometimes when a dancer has a good body, there are fewer chances to become a star. And when something is lacking, they become more hardworking, they know that they lack something and work on it and continue to work hard and achieve something. Never ever give up, and when you receive praise, it doesn’t mean that working on yourself has stopped.
Photos from Renata Shakirova’s personal collection and from the Mariinsky Theatre.